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NORWALK-- A Bridgeport woman charged with fighting with a 61-year-old Metro-North Railroad conductor and breaking one of her fingers while dislocating another pleaded not guilty to an assault on a public transit employee charge Tuesday.

Shaquana Minott, 18, of 122 Whitney Ave., Bridgeport, who was released after posting a $50,000 bond following her Dec. 1 arrest, was represented at state Superior Court in Norwalk by special public defender Neal Rogan.

A Stamford girl, who is not identified by the courts because she was 17 at the time of the Nov. 16 incident at the South Norwalk railroad station, was also charged with assault on a transit worker.

A third teenager, Jayra Hargrove, 18, of 93 Morgan St., Apt. 2E, Stamford, was charged with altering a train pass and was released after posting $2,500 bond. She also pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday.

Hargrove and the younger girl, who got on the train in Stamford along with Minott, were getting kicked off the train for not having proper tickets, according Minott's six-page arrest warrant affidavit.

When the train got to the South Norwalk platform, Minott, a Central High School student, got her leg stuck in the sliding doors after another girl was jumping in and out of the doorway -- keeping the train from continuing to New Haven.

A 57-year-old male train passenger told authorities that after the female conductor told Minott that she had to either get on or off the train, the two girls without tickets began berating the conductor, saying it was her fault Minott was caught in the doors, the affidavit said.

The man said Minott, who had a legitimate train ticket, then punched the conductor in the face while the unidentified Stamford girl punched her in the shoulder, the affidavit states. The three then ran away.

The conductor was taken to Norwalk Hospital and treated for her finger injuries.

Minott and Hargrove are to return to court Jan. 12.

John Nickerson can be reached at 203-964-2320 or john.nickerson@scni.com.